Page 15 of Infatuated as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #2)

Head turning, I spotted a face I had only ever seen back home in Dallas.

Nate Whittaker. His dark brown hair was neatly swept back as he quickly shoved something into his pocket.

I had known him for almost my whole life, and once upon a time, we went to the same ever so elite private school before I made my parents drag me out of there.

Post private school days, I’d usually see him around one of my dad’s favorite hangouts: Centennial Hills Country Club.

Invitation only, with membership fees in the high five figures.

“It is.” I laughed. “It’s good to see a familiar face on campus.”

Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me into a hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long. Are you sure my face is still familiar?”

“My dad wouldn’t let me forget you,” I said when we stepped away from each other. “He mentioned you’d be coming here. You’re majoring in economics, right?”

“Yup. Gotta follow in my father’s footsteps, huh?” he asked, giving me a roll of his blue eyes.

“You sound so excited to be here.”

“I just wanted to take a gap year, you know? Maybe take a break from all those years of expensive private schooling. I was planning to go to Fiji for a few months and instead I’m stuck here.

” He huffed. “Anyway, enough about me. Your dad said you were studying journalism or something? I remember before you ditched us for that other school you wanted to do it back then too.”

“I didn’t ditch you guys. I hated that school. Everyone was so…” I struggled to find the word. “… Rich.”

“Like you aren’t?” He snorted. “How have you been, huh? I didn’t see you at the club all summer.”

“I was kinda busy this summer. I had a lot going on.”

“Ah, yes. With your new boyfriend, right?” he said with a big grin. “Your dad told me about him. He told me a lot, actually.”

The words had me straightening up. That wasn’t shocking to hear. “And what did he say?”

“Many, many things. The term ‘delinquent’ was used on several occasions. He also said ‘criminal’ a lot, so I’ve been wondering if you’ve fallen in love with a serial killer or something.”

“Look, whatever my dad said about Sawyer isn’t true.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know all about your little golf dates and how much time you’ve been spending together.”

“Yeah, those were… interesting. I think he was secretly trying to set us up.”

Leaning in closer, I kept my eyes locked to his. “He was what?”

“He found out I was coming to Columbia too and got a little excited. Kept saying I should ask you out and stuff. Between you and me, Holly, I don’t think he likes your boyfriend all that much.”

I blinked at him as I took in those words, already itching to call my dad and scream at him for doing something so audacious. “He told you to ask me out?”

“Yeah, a couple times.”

“Well, I am very much taken and in love, so that was a pointless endeavor.”

“So this Sawyer guy’s the reason you rejected me?”

“I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I think I would have rejected you even if I didn’t have him,” I said.

Nate was everything I was supposed to want and love.

Polished, clean cut, more money in his bank account than everyone on campus put together—professors included.

Triple that amount and it’d still be chump change, but that didn’t allure me to him even in the slightest bit.

My dad didn’t realize that setting me up with a guy like Nate was also setting me up for a lifetime of boredom and misery.

He pressed his hands to his chest. “I’m heartbroken, Holly. Just joking, I’m happy for you. I gotta meet this guy if he’s making your dad this worked up.”

“My dad hasn’t exactly been happy or supportive of my relationship. But when you meet Sawyer, you’ll see that he’s worried for no reason.”

“He’s studying here? Your dad said he didn’t want to study.”

“He’s not a student. He’s an artist. And he’s really, really good. You should see his paintings, they’re all beautiful.”

“He’s doing art full time?”

“No, he’s working as a mechanic right now. You know, until things pick up for him, and they will.”

“Wait, really? My car’s been giving me trouble lately. You think he can fix it?”

I thought about the question for a moment. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was a good idea having Sawyer and Nate in the same room. “Um, I’ll ask him about that.”

“Cool, thanks. I really wanna meet him. Your dad wouldn’t shut up about him whenever we played golf together. Guy’s gotta be the devil.”

“He is not the devil. He’s my dad’s version of the devil, but he’s always been a bit of a drama queen.”

Nate laughed, waving a lazy hand at my gym bag. “Were you at the gym?”

“Hm?” I followed his hand. “Oh, no. I just had my first cheer meeting. I had to pick up my new uniform.”

“Oh, you’re still cheering? There’s a game in a couple weeks, right?”

“Yeah, first game of the season. It’s been a while since I cheered, so hopefully I don’t make an idiot of myself.”

“You won’t. I’ll try and come check it out. Maybe I can talk to your boyfriend about my car then.” He gave my shoulder a soft squeeze. “Hey, I’m gonna be late to class, but I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

I watched Nate run over to Holloway Hall, sending me one final wave over his shoulder, and then it was my turn to take a left so I could attend my first ever lecture of the semester.

Nate was the kind of guy that everyone expected me to fall for. Preppy, wealthy, clean cut—been there, done that, absolute disaster. Nate was nice enough, but he sort of disappeared into a sea of rich guys I had been around my whole life. Everywhere I went, they were all the same.

Sawyer was different. He gave me the kind of love I couldn’t ever find in anyone else.

It was pure and solid, the kind I was so lucky to find, because that threat of old money traditions always hung heavy over my head.

That boring trap that I was expected to fall for: marry rich, stay rich, die rich.

But it was better with Sawyer in every possible way. There were no flashy, shallow gestures with him. No superficial moments that existed just to impress an even more superficial world around us.

My dad was stupid for thinking I’d ever give that up.

I shook those thoughts away, getting to my Media Ethics lecture with a good few minutes to spare.

It ended up being an ever so slightly long and draining hour, but I bumped into some other students who were planning on writing for the student newspaper, and after class, we all headed off to meet up with the editor—Caroline—who asked to see some samples of our work.

If I was lucky, I’d be given a chance to contribute to The Daily Post.

A couple of classes and one lunch break with the girls from the cheer team later, and I was back at home after a mostly drama free first day—besides an eye roll inducing phone call with my dad where I told him to never try and set me up with another guy ever again.

I got started on dinner, wondering how work was going for Sawyer.

He was good at fixing stuff, so I knew adapting to that part wouldn’t be hard for him, but as I got started on cutting some onions, all I could think about was how hard he worked all the damn time.

He wouldn’t stop and I knew why. He didn’t want to rely on me.

I was nearly done cooking when I heard the door open.

Spoon in hand so I could taste the sauce, I looked over my shoulder to see Sawyer standing there, and it was hard to pull my eyes away from him.

I liked his uniform: a blue, short sleeve shirt that he kept unbuttoned with a white T-shirt underneath.

I liked his untamed hair. I liked the scent of his woodsy cologne that mixed in with the faintest trace of cigarette smoke. So much better than a suit and tie.

He was looking right at me, eyes never leaving mine and soon, my cheeks started to feel all hot.

“What is it?” I asked quietly.

His head shook as he shut the door. “Nothing. Just… I really missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I smiled, feeling him circle his arms around my waist. “How was your day? ”

“Good. I think I’m gonna like it there.”

“Ooh, the sauce!” I quickly turned back around to face the stove, feeling my heart race when Sawyer looped his arms around me again, this time from behind with his head on my shoulder. “Dinner’s almost done.”

“That smells really good. Whatcha making?”

I put on my best French accent. “Agneau à la provencale.”

“Oh, I’ve had that plenty of times.” He pressed his lips to my neck, kissing at me softly. “All I know is that it smells really good.”

“Well, hopefully it tastes good too.”

“I bet it will.” He kissed my neck again. “How was your first day? How’d the meeting go?”

“It was actually really good. The girls are so sweet. Some of them are dancers. Like, professional ones, so hopefully I can learn some stuff from them. I had lunch with a few of them too which was nice.”

“I’m glad you’re making friends, baby. You need any help out here? What do you need me to do?”

My eyes widened. “Nope. You need to rest. You’re probably exhausted.”

“You did stuff today too.”

“All I did was sit in a room and listen to people talk. My brain’s tired, but my body isn’t. Go shower and then we can eat and you can rest.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll be back in a second.”

Ten minutes later, the food was ready and Sawyer was back from his shower, just in time for me to let out a little, “Ta da!” before we sat down and ate. We talked about our days and all the things we got up to, and when we finally finished up eating, I remembered my little encounter with Nate.

“I bumped into a guy I know in Dallas,” I said as we did the dishes together. Sawyer washed, I dried. “A friend. I see him around the club every now and then when my parents make me go.”

“Club?” Sawyer asked.

“Centennial Hills Country Club. My dad plays golf there.”

“Oh, right, that place.”

“Yeah. That place. His name’s Nate. We used to go to school together. My old school. The one I forced my parents to drag me out of. ”

“And then you started to terrorize me.”

“It was the other way around.” I bumped my hip softly with his. “I never did any terrorizing.”

“You did a lot of yelling.”

“You were always pushing my buttons,” I said, grabbing a freshly washed glass from him. “Anyway, he’s studying at Columbia. He’s an economics major.”

“Fancy.”

“He’s having some issues with his car. I don’t know what kind he has or what the problem is, but he told me to ask you if he could bring it into the shop.” I gave Sawyer a look as he shut the sink off. He gently took the glass and towel from my hand, wiping it down before I could get the chance to.

Sawyer nodded, rubbing at the glass. “We could take a look at it.”

“But… there’s something I should tell you. My dad’s been kinda… in his ear about us,” I said, a hint of shame there in my voice.

“In his ear?”

“I think he was trying to play matchmaker. You know I’m not interested in any other guy, but I didn’t want to lie to you about it.

They’ve been playing a lot of golf together over the summer and Nate said how my dad told him that he should, like, ask me out or something.

I already called him and yelled at him about that.

” I shook my head, that shame still sitting there heavy on my chest. “You know how he is…”

Sawyer halted, shoulders stiffening and jaw tight as he kept his eyes ahead of him. “Yeah, I know how he is.”

“It’s so like him. So immature.” I watched Sawyer closely, intensely, wishing with everything in me that my dad would find it in him to change, to be better. “I don’t even know what goes through his head sometimes.”

“I think I know.”

“Me and Nate have been friends for a long time, but I’ve never seen him like that. He’s so… not you , and I don’t want anyone but you. My dad doesn’t get it. When is he gonna get it?”

“Probably never,” he said, the words coming out all clipped as he set the glass down. “I never expected him to like me and I can’t change that. There’s no point. He’s always gonna think I’m not good enough for you.”

“I don’t think that. You know I don’t care about…”

“About me being poor,” he said, finishing the sentence. “It’s not a curse word, sweetheart.”

“It just feels so…” I fidgeted on the spot. “I really hate that word.”

“But it’s what I am.”

“You’re more than that. You’re more than how much money you have.”

“Well, for your dad, it’s the most important thing about me.”

“He’s such an idiot,” I muttered.

Sawyer stood behind me, arms wrapping around my waist just like earlier, his nose nuzzling against my neck.

“He can try and set you up with every rich guy that lives in this city, but if he wants to do that, he needs to be prepared for me to fight ‘em all,” he said as he kissed at my neck. “He still doesn’t get how much I love you. I already know I can’t give you the world, Holly.

I would if I could. I wish so badly I could snap my fingers and give you that perfect life, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love you more than anyone else ever could.

He can’t ruin this.” He held me tighter.

“What we have. You and me. I won’t let him do it.

If I have to fight for you, I will. Maybe your dad has some guy waiting in the wings to give you some mansion and giant ring, but he would never love you as much as I do and no other guy ever will. I want you to be mine forever.”

“Forever sounds really nice,” I said softly. “But you know I have no interest in anyone but you. You’re the only one I want.”

He kept giving my neck kisses, the sensation soft and lingering. “I know, princess.”

“You’re the only one I wanna come home to. To do this with, just us being together. I wouldn’t be happy doing this with anyone else. I already know that I’ll be miserable. You make me happier than anyone else ever could.”

Sawyer spun me around so I could look into his eyes.

So green, so intense. I felt a firm, steady hand rest gently at the back of my head while the other stayed at the small of my back.

He pulled me in close, keeping me against his broad chest, his lips giving the top of my head a slow, lingering kiss that made me sigh.

I loved being right there. In his arms, in his presence, where I could just feel him and forget about everyone and everything else.

There wasn’t any other place I’d want to be.